Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke has condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine ordered by Vladimir Putin in the strongest possible terms on behalf of the Offenbach City Council. "My thoughts are with the Ukrainians in their homeland, but also here in Offenbach, who are suffering from this breach of international law. It is to be feared that the war will lead to a high number of human casualties. Nobody has forced Waldimir Putin to kill people, it is his own decision for which he is responsible." The current developments continue to dismay Lord Mayor Schwenke, because Putin also wants to eliminate the democracy, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, which has been achieved at great cost.
"Of course, many people are now asking themselves whether we will maintain our town twinning with the Russian city of Oryol. We have to be clear about this: the military decision was taken by Russia's political leadership. We do not know how much support there is for this war among the Russian population. As we know, people are exposed to very precisely organized propaganda from the Russian leadership." Schwenke emphasized that the bond with the Russian twin city of Oryol is not about politics, but about the people of Oryol. "All of our town twinnings are always about maintaining peace in Europe, overcoming mistrust and prejudice and making commonalities tangible through direct exchanges between people. The Schiller School and the Offenbach-Orjol Club in particular have rendered outstanding services to Offenbach in this respect. Only on this foundation can lasting peace be secured."
According to Schwenke, this spirit of peace and international understanding has been the foundation of the partnership with Orjol for over thirty years: "Especially now, when there is war in Europe again, it would be wrong to break off ties with the people in Orjol. On the contrary: everyone who has contacts with Oryol must remain in dialog and use this dialog to try and support the civil society and democratic forces in Russia. Because there will also be a time after Putin. Then the people in Russia will still be there and our goal must be to live in peace with Russia in Europe."
In a letter, Mayor Schwenke also contacted the political leadership of the city of Oryol to make it clear how the people of Offenbach feel about the current developments and that he condemns Moscow's decision in the strongest possible terms: "I have called on them to do everything in their power to restore peace and end the war. In this letter, I also clearly emphasized that our relations must continue to follow the spirit of twinning in the future: to strengthen understanding between the citizens of our two cities and prevent new wars in Europe."
These days, it is clear how important town twinning is in Europe, as encounters between people across borders generally take place at a private and municipal level, said Schwenke: "For this reason, and because I would like to congratulate our twin city in Luxembourg, Esch sur Alzette, on winning the title of European Capital of Culture, I will accept the invitation this weekend and take part in the launch event in Esch sur Alzette with many other European representatives."